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As in, massive amounts of jam make its way into or onto every single breakfast.

Those all fruit jams at the store are great, but they can be a bit pricey (a lot pricy) and come in minuscule amounts.

You can make your own at home.

You don’t even have to spend hours in the berry patch picking your fruit.

Since, you know, its not even near berry pickin’ time.

And since it is freezing outside it only makes sense that your berries will come from the freezer too.

All you need is your favorite frozen fruit and some fresh fruit that naturally has a high amount of pectin.

Pectin.

The powdery stuff that costs an arm and a leg at the grocery store and is practically non-existant in the winter months.

The stuff your grandmother uses to make her generations old jam recipe.

The stuff that is so fickle, you can never get it the way your Granny did, leaving your jam runny, watery, and soupy.

Or maybe I’m the only one who spends 8 hours in the kitchen boiling fruit, adding pectin, sterilizing jars, canning, and waiting for the inevitable final product of fruit soup.

Fruit soup does not work nicely on a cashew butter and jelly.

And husbands get mad when jam oozes out onto their work uniforms.

Hulk-ishly mad.

So because berry season is an interminable amount of months away, because fresh fruit comes from countries that I can barely geographically locate, and because store bought all-fruit jam contains about a spoonful of actual product, I present you with this jammin’ recipe.

Fruits high in pectin that can be used include apples, plums, grapes, and citrus peels. Unripe fruit contains more pectin so now you have a use for those rock hard plums. Also, most of the pectin is in the skin of the fruit so don’t get all peel-y with it.

Just get jammin’.

Frozen Fruit Jam

2 plums

2 ( 12 oz.) bags of frozen blueberries

Juice + zest of 1 orange

Zest the orange and set the zest aside.

Slice and chop the plums.

You can’t taste the plums. They really just help to thicken up the jam.

Add the plums to a medium sized pot over low-medium heat and cook for a minute or too until softened.

Tidbit: Make sure to use WHITE WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR. It’s softer and less chewy than regular whole wheat flour.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients.

Stir just until combined.

Pour into greased muffin pans.

Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if using.

If using a mini-muffin pan, bake for 12-14 minutes.

*I have no idea how long regular muffins would take. Start with 12-14 minutes and then continue cooking until the tops spring back when touched. I always under-bake my muffins by a minute or two since they continue cooking once you remove them from the oven.

Like when your sister calls you and tell you she’s basically allergic to everything.

Well, not everything.

I think she can eat toast.

Gluten free toast with non-dairy butter.

And make sure the toast isn’t within a 12 foot radius of an egg.

Yeah.

Egg.

“What am I going to eat?” she wailed from eight hundred miles away.

We weren’t on the phone.

I could hear her yelling that loud.

She proceeded to list 16 other things that her allergy test came back positive for.

How traumatic.

Traumatic that her food lovin’ sistah lives so far away.

I basically wanted to Fed-Ex her Sunday brunch.

She’ll have to settle for a photograph.

With a recipe!

When you can’t (or don’t) eat eggs, you might be surprised to learn that crumbled tofu cooked until warm has a similar texture and mouthfeel as eggs. It doesn’t taste exactly the same but a little salt and pepper go a long way in the flavor department.

Tofu Scramble

1 (12 oz) block of firm tofu

1/2 teaspoon canola oil

1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder

salt + pepper to taste

Drain tofu and press out excess water.

No need to get technical here. Just press the tofu with paper towel to absorb excess liquid.

I meal plan with the intention of including as many colors as possible because different colored foods offer different kinds of nutrients and antioxidants.

You may have heard recently that tomatoes are high in lycopene, an antioxidant that may help protect against cancer.

But it’s not just tomatoes that are high in lycopene-all red fruits and vegetables are rich with it.

I have been eating more than my fair share of oats and grains lately so I think my body was screaming for some red antioxidant power.

And bourbon.

Of course.

Red cabbage and sweet cherries are slow cooked (braised) with bourbon, apple juice, and a little bit of honey. Since cherry season is a long ways away, I started this recipe by heating a bag of frozen cherries before adding the rest of my ingredients. A shot of apple cider vinegar contrasts with the sweetness of the cherries, apple juice, and honey for a sweet and slightly tart side dish.

CHERRY BOURBON BRAISED RED CABBAGE

1 (12 oz) package frozen sweet cherries

2 lbs. red cabbage, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups apple juice

2 tablespoons bourbon*

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

Juice of 1 lemon

*Tidbit: I used Jim Beam Red Stag Cherry Bourbon. You can use regular bourbon or leave it out altogether and add additional apple juice. Also, if you want a more pronounced bourbon flavor, add it near the end of cooking time.

Almond and apple butters are combined to make a marriage made in food heaven. You can make your own butters or you can buy them pre-made and put this together in about two minutes.

To make your own almond butter: Add 3 cups of almonds to a food processor and process until smooth. Add salt, if desired.

To make your own apple butter: Add 5 lbs. of apples and 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup maple syrup or honey to a crockpot. Cook on high for four hours and then puree. Return to crock pot and continue cooking until desired consistency (about 2-4 more hours).

I also should have known not to reach into her mouth in the pitch black hours before bedtime expecting to pull out rotten fruit.

No.

First came the tail.

Fur and all.

Then came what I can only imagine to be, um, connective tissue.

Attached to a live organ.

Just one.

Just a tail and one fledging, tiny little animal organ.

The rest of some poor critter was on its way down my dog’s digestive system.

It was all I could do to hold down my own dinner.

I managed to get everything cleaned up and thought the worst was over.

Until I poured myself a bowl of cereal the next morning.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The previous night’s incident flashed through my brain.

The next sounds that came out of my mouth are not really appropriate for the public forum.

Nice imagery for a food blog, eh?

Now you know how I felt while I tried to choke down a bowl of crispy, crunchy cereal.

I wanted no part of it.

Every crunch was like a stabbing reminder of the carnage that took place in my back yard.

I needed something soft.

Oatmeal!

In cookie form.

Breakfast cookie form.

A chewy breakfast cookie made with oats, banana, peanut butter and maple syrup for sweetness. These are really good for breakfasts on the go or a quick snack throughout the day. Even though its called a breakfast “cookie” its more about the shape than the actual flavor. These are more like a slightly sweet oatmeal muffin-in cookie form.